A variety of biological agents are currently in use for the treatment of diseases and disorders. Many of these agents may be administered topically, rectally, vaginally, by pulmonary route, or parenterally.
However, parenteral administration (such as intramuscular, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, intra-arterial or intravenous) as well as rectal, vaginal, and pulmonary routes, are often inconvenient, costly, or both. Oral administration thus possesses several advantages over these other routes. It is a convenient, cost-effective mode of administration for the patient.
The present invention relates, among other things, to (1) pharmaceutical compositions and methods for chemotherapeutic agents and (2) pharmaceutical compositions for biological agents, particularly those whose target cells or tissues are resistant to the biological agent.
A number of chemotherapeutic agents exhibit low solubility and stability in physiological fluids. Often, chemotherapeutic agents are poorly transported across cell membranes. Further, many of these agents are binding with plasma proteins as well as other nonspecific interactions in the blood stream before they can reach the target cancer.